EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - Ten games into the 2018-19 season, the Rangers, like many teams, are still finding out about themselves. Their head coach is interested in finding out how they bounce back.

Coming off Thursday night's 4-1 loss in Chicago, the Rangers will now turn to the California portion of their schedule - three games in five days against the Kings, Sharks and Ducks - beginning with Sunday's matinee match at Staples Center.

The Rangers have a winning record (3-2-0) coming off a loss this season, but Quinn believes their situation Sunday is different in that they struggled so mightily to gain possession of the puck and generate an attack late in Thursday's game, in which they had one third-period shot on goal (plus one off the crossbar).

"One of the things that'll happen in a long season, you're going to have stinkers. What do you do after you have one?" Quinn said after the Rangers practiced at Toyota Center on Saturday. "Are you going to make it two in a row or are you going to stop it? That's something that we talked at length about today.

"We've got to make sure it doesn't happen again."

But while the Rangers are looking for a bounce-back game, the Kings are desperate to throw the brakes on a six-game losing streak during which they have been outscored 29-8. The Kings have scored two or fewer goals in eight of their 10 games this season, and are averaging 1.80 goals per game, fewest in the NHL.

Henrik Lundqvist - who has allowed two or fewer goals in five of his eight starts this year - will get the start against them, likely to be opposed by Jonathan Quick, who has struggled to an .818 save percentage in his three starts since coming off injured reserve from a lower body injury suffered in practice.

"We certainly understand the hornet's nest we could be walking into tomorrow," Quinn said. "Their situation has been well documented. It's going to be a huge challenge for us tomorrow for sure - for a variety of reasons. They've got a lot of good players and certainly them being in the situation they're in makes it even more challenging."

Thursday's game at United Center was a one-goal contest well into the third period, when Kevin Hayescame flying down the left wing and whipped a shot off the bottom of Corey Crawford's crossbar - "a game-changer," Hayes called it, given that the Hawks scored just over two minutes later to make it a 3-1 game.

Hayes' goal against the Panthers on Tuesday at the Garden was just his second of the season, but both he and his coach feel there is no need to change his game in search of results.

"I'm playing good hockey here," Hayes said. "I only have two goals, but I think I'm doing the right things on the ice. I'm getting good looks, they're just not going in at the moment. Hopefully sooner rather than later."

"I think he's playing really well," Quinn said. "I think he's playing his best hockey since I've been here."

"He's big and fast and generates a lot of space," Hayes said of Kreider, whose four goals rank second on the Rangers." "Hopefully tomorrow it clicks."

Down the lineup, Quinn will return Filip Chytil to the spot where he started the season, centering the fourth line. Chytil had been playing on Hayes' left wing on the second line, where the matchups tended to be tougher.

"One of the things that's been happening to him is he's playing against everybody's top two lines," Quinn said, "so it's a little bit of a burden for a 19-year-old playing the left wing - which he has felt comfortable with, I think he will skate more in the middle. I'm trying things and seeing what can work."

Tony DeAngelo will check back into the lineup after Adam McQuaid suffered a lower-body injury that forced him out of Thursday's game. McQuaid is considered day-to-day and Quinn said he is hopeful the big blueliner can return in one of the remaining games on the trip, in San Jose on Tuesday or Anaheim on Thursday. "(Sunday) will be a key day to see how he's feeling," Quinn said. "It got better (Saturday) so we'll see how he feels."

DeAngelo will play his third game this season; he had a pair of assists in his season debut Oct. 7 in Carolina.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Hayes has been a point-per-game player against the Kings, with six points (four goals) in six games - and the Rangers have earned points in five of those (3-1-2). On Sunday he'll have Kreider, his former Boston College linemate, playing to his left.

Second-year winger Alex Iafallo leads the Kings with seven points. Iafallo - Neal Pionk's college teammate for two seasons at Minnesota-Duluth - skates on the left side of Anze Kopitar and should have a new right wing on Sunday as Dustin Brown (broken finger) is expected to make his season debut.

NUMBERS GAME

Marc Staal will play his 772nd NHL game, all with the Rangers, tying Adam Graves for 10th place among skaters on the all-time franchise list.

The Kings have not lost seven games in a row since an eight-game losing streak in December of 2007.